Jerking awake, I found myself standing over Alexandra's prone form as she jerked and twitched. Her face was stuck in a grimace of pain, and I watched as she howled but no sound came out. Eventually, blood started seeped through her eyelids and I freaked out.
Grabbing the clipboard, I hit the formation where it said, "Medical Emergency." and Mrs. Harmon appeared in moments in a flash of angelic light.
"What happened?" She asked as a halo of light appeared above her head and she started to heal Alexandra.
"Massive upgrade of her implant, the school gave her a scholarship." I said, looking at Alexandra's still bleeding eyes with worry.
Mrs. Harmon nodded in understanding as she kept the healing up for a full minute before the angelic light slowly dissipated and she stood up. "There will be no permanent damage, give her at least half an hour to recover before you begin the next step." Grabbing my arm, she pulled me from the room and locked it. Setting it up so that only the teachers and I could get in using the formation on the door.
Pointing me towards the ongoing test, I nodded and left Mrs. Harmon to her duties as I walked over to watch the candidates.
"That's quite the beauty you dragged into the private rooms, have a good time?" Rick started giving me shit the moment he saw me come out of the room.
I snorted in disgust, but had to admit that he was right. I hadn't noticed it at first given how shy and embarrassed she'd been, but when she looked at me with that fire in her eyes for protecting her family...
"I was just helping her out with upgrading her implant, I have to go back in half an hour to get her finished up."
Rick nodded in understanding and said, "Yeah, Gunthar found a guy who has the talent to become a Shaman and he took him back to go over what it takes. I don't envy the guy, I overheard Gunthar saying that the reason his tattoo's move is that they're tattooed to his soul, not his body. Can you imagine how painful it'd be to get a tattoo on your very soul?"
Closing my eyes, I looked at the Mark of the Storm in my soul and said, "Didn't you get a brand when you joined God's Judgement. I bet it feels like that, just they need a lot more of them."
Rick shuddered as he too remembered the event. "Anyone who can withstand that has earned my respect."
Looking back at the possible recruits in the formation, I shook my head as one of them started crying after getting punched in the cheek. "These guys have a long way to go."
My clipboard started flashing with a light then, and I noticed that the half an hour was almost up. "Later man." I said as I walked to the private training room.
Opening it up, I found Alexandra trying to stand up while grabbing her head in pain. Rushing over, I caught her just as she was about to fall to the ground. I did my best not to react to holding her like this as I eased her to the ground. It wasn't easy, she was wearing baggy clothes that couldn't quite manage to hide her figure and holding her like this... I am a teenage boy after all.
"Go back into your training space and invite me in, the pain should be muted in there. I had Mrs. Harmon check you out everything's fine."
"I'm bleeding from my eyes! How could it possibly be fine!" She yelled at me while grabbing her head again, the noise and movement aggravating the pain.
"Just enter your implant and we'll get it all worked out, by the time we're done you should be back to normal." I said, trying to keep her from moving by holding her down.
Sighing, she did as she was told and I quickly accepted the invite to join her after sitting down. She was looking around in shock as she found herself sitting in a classroom that I was all to familiar with.
"What is this?" She said, her pain of a moment before forgotten as she stared around.
"This is one of the classrooms at Gifted Academy. After accepting the scholarship you officially joined us, and those of us stuck here have their learning space set to this classroom automatically. Sucks, doesn't it?"
Looking around, she shrugged before saying, "It's nicer than what it was before."
I nodded in understanding, but was busy navigating through a bunch of messages that'd just popped up.
*Ding*
*You've been designated as Alexandra Stellar's Instructor*
*Changes in Alexandra Stellar's Implant Detected*
*New Cultivation Options Acquired*
Opening up the new options, I quickly read through them and then made them visible for Alexandra to peruse.
"Normally, you'd have two options to choose from to start with as a mindscape cultivator. Body or mental refining. However, due to recent events and my own personal urging the school is now requiring all mindscape cultivators to start with body refining."
As I said that, the option to choose mental refining dimmed and Alexandra pouted angrily. "But mental refining is what gives mindscape cultivators an edge in alchemy!" She'd apparently gotten more comfortable with me as we spent time together because while she still blushed at me from time to time, she was interacting with me instead of clamming up and looking at the floor.
"Yes, and after joining the alchemy guild you'll get a lot of opportunities to find the perfect cultivation manual for yourself. Mental refining is far more complicated than you can imagine. Trust me, it's better to start off with body refining." Using the interface, I made the body refining manuals that matched her the best appear.
*Body Refining Chosen*
*Options: Yin-Yang Manual - Furnace Method - Dual Elemental Control*
She began reading through each option was presented to her while I did a quick rundown of them.
"The Yin-Yang Manual is a method that combines fire and water and at it's peak helps you to develop Yin and Yang energies giving you access to a special affinity. It's really powerful, and if you wanted to become a fighter this would be my choice for you."
"The Furnace Method is a way of refining your body with Fire and Water Elemental energy with the goal of turning your body into an Alchemic Furnace. It's not as strong as the Yin-Yang method, but users of this method almost all gain incredible control over the Alchemic processes. It will give you a major step up in your studies and is what I think you should take if you're serious about Alchemy."
"Finally, the Dual Elemental Control is a basic manual that teaches you how to refine your body with any two elements. While it works, it's not special in anyway and you shouldn't pick it. It just doesn't match the other two methods."
After I was done explaining her options, she decisively chose the Furnace Method, which made total sense to me. After that, I nodded and said, "Well, we're done." I said. "Remember to completely memorize the Furnace Method and feel free to ask me any questions. My friends and I are currently in the Ironmarsh Special Zone in MSE, you should head over there and I'll introduce you to them."
Her face turned red and she started looking at the floor, embarrassed at the thought of meeting new people "No, I couldn't possibly impose..."
Reaching over, I put my index finger under her chin and made her raise it so she was looking at me. "Cultivation is dangerous and difficult. You'll need friends, and I think mine will like you."
She blushed even more, but I let it go. Beth had always wanted a little sister to dote on, I figured she'd beat some confidence into this one real fast. Plus, we could use a good alchemist. All of us were focused more on fighting, and that could be dangerous going forwards.